


Visibility

by TheDoctorIsIcecube



Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Anxiety, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, M/M, Pride, gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 05:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8652169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDoctorIsIcecube/pseuds/TheDoctorIsIcecube
Summary: “So…what exactly is pride?” Charlie wasn’t claiming not to enjoy the rainbows that Matteusz had shown him, and the photos of lots of people looking very happy in large streets, but he still didn’t understand what he was supposed to do.-Matteusz takes Charlie to the London Pride parade.





	

“So…what exactly is pride?” Charlie wasn’t claiming not to enjoy the rainbows that Matteusz had shown him, and the photos of lots of people looking very happy in large streets, but he still didn’t understand what he was supposed to do.

“We all go and march down a street together,” Matteusz said. “It is so people can see we are still here so they cannot forget about us.” Charlie would admit that he didn’t quite understand how people could just suddenly forget about a whole group of people, but things worked differently on Earth.

“And…why are all of the rainbows necessary? They’re very nice, but, well, do you really need to paint one on my face?” Human traditions were unendingly weird, Charlie thought. There seemed to be no point to them.

“It is a symbol,” Matteusz said. “I do not know why we started to use it, possibly to celebrate diversity, but it is colourful, obvious and unmistakable. It is like asking you why your Cabinet is that shape, it is just what is now.” 

Charlie wasn’t sure that anything could be compared to his Cabinet, but he nodded anyway. “So, where are we actually going? Is it safe? Quill will want to know if there’s any danger and she might insist on coming with us.”

“We are just walking in London,” he said. “It is safe, there will be police so no one will be hurt.” As far as Matteusz had said to him, police presentation was no guarantee to them not getting hurt, but Quill would leave them alone if he said that. Also if he said that everyone there would presume she liked women. Honestly, he didn’t know who or what Quill liked. Probably no one at all. If anyone tried to flirt with her, she was more apt to punch them than flirt back. 

“I’ll tell her we’ll be fine,” he said. Matteusz nodded. Neither of them really wanted Quill to be around for this. To Charlie, even though this was a public event, it seemed a very personal thing to do. In this world, people made such a big deal about all of these things and being visible was obviously very important to Matteusz.

“Shall we go?” Matteusz had finished painting on his face now, so presumably they were ready to leave. He stood up on his tiptoes to kiss Matteusz, and then pulled away with a grin. He was rather looking forward to this.

When they got to where the parade was supposed to start, Charlie realised what a big deal this was. He’d never really seen so many humans gathered in the same place before, and no one was dressed plainly. He knew London was a big city, but the volume of people who had showed up for this was amazing. Everyone was dressed in bright colours or painted ridiculously, and everyone was talking and laughing. It was...loud, but Charlie hoped he’d be fine as long as Matteusz’s hand stayed linked with his. He was used to big crowds, or he had been. He just hoped that anxiety wouldn’t get the better of him.

“There are a lot of people here,” he said, and he gripped Matteusz’s hand tighter. Matteusz looked at him, and his expression betrayed how worried he was.

“It will be okay,” he assured, squeezing Charlie’s hand tight. “No danger here. Just me. And...a large crowd.” Matteusz shrugged. “But they are friendly crowd.” 

“I can see they’re friendly,” he said with a small smile. He was sort of looking forward to it, being with all these people, and he wasn’t worried about them. He was worried about what his unconscious reaction to them would be.

“Let’s get closer.” Matteusz pulled him towards the crowds, and Charlie bit his lip and took a deep breath and didn’t panic. Not yet, at least. He was fine. This was fine. 

The music was loud, and there were lots of different kinds. There were people singing, everyone was having fun and everyone seemed to belong. There wasn’t any hatred, which was probably the first time he’d ever encountered such a thing on Earth. Humans seemed to hate a lot. Plenty of people turned to grin at him and Matteusz, and a few people cheered and waved. They didn’t seem to be cheering for any particular reason- Charlie could hear them doing it for almost everyone who walked past. 

Really, though, they weren’t approached by anyone. They walked with all the people, they smiled and had fun, but for a while they remained slightly distant in a way that made Charlie relax a little. No one was really getting too close and it was just a happy, sunny event where he could walk with Matteusz. “This isn’t as bad as I imagined it might be,” he said, smiling up at his boyfriend. “How often does this happen again? We should go more often…”

“Only once a year,” Matteusz said. “They cost money to put on and the weather really needs to be good. Lots happen in different places; there was one in Warsaw when I lived there.”

“Did you ever go?” Charlie asked. He loved hearing Matteusz talk about Poland, because it was a place he clearly loved.

“No…” Mateusz sighed. “I used to watch sometimes, but my parents tried to keep me in the house on pride days.” He looked down at the floor. “I had a boyfriend once who tried to sneak me out to go, but my parents caught us. Made me stop talking to him.”

Charlie nodded. That was how a lot of Matteusz’s stories went about his home and his past, though not all of them. There were plenty of happy stories about how his parents took good care of him at home and made sure he got into a good school and that he always had warm clothes and a lunch to eat at school even though they didn’t have very much money. It was sort of confusing, because he’d always had a negative image of Matteusz’s parents before he asked. But he supposed that humans were complex like that. Not entirely good, not entirely bad. Although he did want to think that perhaps Matteusz’s parents had a little more bad in them than most. 

After a while of walking, they stopped in a park. There were lots of people all around trying to sell things, mostly things with rainbows on. These crowds were worse, but Charlie did his best to keep his hand tightly in Matteusz’s so they wouldn’t lose each other. Matteusz tugged him away at one point to buy a rainbow ice cream- Charlie stared at it in wonder for a moment before eating a little, questioning internally just who had come up with that idea. Rainbow ice cream. He loved humans.

But, somehow, Matteusz was pulled away by something, and the comforting feeling of his hand in Charlie’s was gone. He looked up and called out for Matteusz, but he couldn’t hear, and by the time he’d collected himself and bested his rising panic, he was out of sight.

Charlie didn’t move. He couldn’t move. He knew he should be heading into the crowd, looking for Matteusz, but all of a sudden he couldn’t. He was alone, and the crowd just seemed loud, not so friendly anymore. People were lurching around, some people were drunk and getting louder every second. The policemen who had been very obvious during the parade were now nowhere to be seen, and there were people smoking everywhere and the smoke was making his lungs hurt. He could barely breathe anymore.

He stayed frozen, heartbeat echoing in his ears louder and louder by the second. Some part of him knew to think rationally- knew that he could go home or text Matteusz or just wait here, but that part wasn’t getting listened to right now. He couldn’t breathe and he felt like things were spinning, the people were all getting closer, brushing against him, crushing him. He felt like he was probably going to die and the only thing he could think about was how upset Matteusz would be that all of this had ended in him ruining it because of his fears.

And then he heard shouting- someone shouting his name in a very familiar voice. It broke through the panic eclipsing his thoughts, lending him a new alertness. Matteusz was looking for him. He would be okay, maybe.

“Matteusz!” He called, turning round to see if he could see him. He’d heard him, but he didn’t know from where. His voice was too shaky to be loud, though, and he knew that Matteusz could never have heard him. He stayed where he was, and called out again. This time, his voice was a little louder, a little stronger, and he hoped that he might have been heard. He really, really hoped he had been. 

He felt arms close around him, and he jumped, immediately hitting out at whoever was behind him. Matteusz never did that. Matteusz never surprised him like that, knew that he got worried if someone did that. He’d hit Matteusz once and given him a nosebleed.

Whoever had grabbed him backed off, looking affronted. “You looked like you were about to faint, kid…I was only trying to help.” Charlie mumbled an apology, feeling slightly sick. “Should I get you to the side of the crowd?”

He only nodded, letting the woman go ahead of him towards the edge of the park. He wouldn’t go any further than that. He knew not to go anywhere with a stranger who he’d just punched.

“I- um, I need to find my boyfriend,” he said as firmly as he could manage. “He’s called Matteusz, he’s a bit taller than me, um…I don’t know where he is. I heard him shouting for me…”

“I can’t help you there, kid,” she said. “I don’t know everyone in the park. But you should wait out here until you can calm down.”

Charlie didn’t think he was going to be able to calm down until Matteusz was safely back by his side, but he nodded anyway, scanning the crowd. He had to be here somewhere. There were people everywhere, but if he kept looking he’d be able to find Matteusz. Matteusz would find him. He reached into his pocket and fished out his phone to check if there were any texts from him.

And then he heard another shout, closer this time, and almost dropped his phone as he looked up and saw Matteusz running towards. Oh, thank goodness. Thank every strange god these humans seemed to worship. He was safe. Matteusz embraced him immediately, wrapping his arms around him tightly. It was the safest Charlie had felt since he’d lost him.

“I’m so sorry,” Matteusz said. “I’m so sorry I lost you. I didn’t realise.”

“It’s okay…” Charlie let out a shaky sigh, hugging Matteusz tightly. “I’m okay. I found you again…I’m sorry if I worried you, Matteusz. I’m fine. I promise.” 

“I think we should go home,” Matteusz said. “We had fun earlier. We can go home now.”

“Yeah...home sounds good.” Charlie laughed a little, face still buried in Matteusz’s shoulder. “I still think we should come back next year. Let’s just...try not to get lost next time.”

“Thank you,” Matteusz said, turning towards the woman who had helped him out of the crowds. “He just gets nervous sometimes, thank you for helping him.” The woman only smiled and then disappeared back into the crowds.

“I love you,” Charlie said the moment they were even vaguely alone. “I love you, and I was so scared I’d just lost you.”

“I love you too,” Matteusz said, pressing a kiss to Charlie’s forehead. “Do not worry about being lost. I will always find you.”


End file.
